Chamber and committees

In 2023, Scottish Government published revised guidance on the Provision of Equipment and Adaptations, which includes actions regarding provision for short-term wheelchair loans. Officials are currently engaging with Health and Social Care Partnerships to better understand how this and the related guidance on the Provision of Wheelchairs for Short-Term Loan is being locally implemented. Throughout the course of their engagement, officials will consider if any updates to this guidance or additional materials are necessary.

Ministerial correspondence received by the Scottish Government is fast-tracked when a Minister or their Private Office determine that a response should be issued in advance of the typical 20 working day deadline the Scottish Government endeavours to meet. There are no set criteria across the organisation for deciding whether correspondence should be fast-tracked. Decisions about whether to fast-track are made on a case by case basis.

It is not practicable to publish all correspondence in relation to marine licence and/or consent applications and subsequent determinations, however key information such as application, consultation responses and decision notices are shared here: https://marine.gov.scot/marine-projects.

The Scottish Government does not collect or record information relating to the volume of ministerial correspondence that is fast-tracked.

As part of normal practice in processing any marine licence or section 36 consent application, officials from the Marine Directorate Licensing Operations Team will meet with applicants and as such, have met with Flotation Energy on multiple occasions for the projects they are developing, both before and after April 2023. Meeting arrangements between MD-LOT and applicants are set out on the Scottish Government website here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/marine-licensing-and-consenting-offshore-renewable-energy-projects/pages/meeting-arrangements-with-md-lot/

Offshore Wind Directorate officials have also met with Flotation Energy multiple times, including at conferences and as part of regular stakeholder engagement, to discuss opportunities and challenges of their projects and the wider offshore wind sector.

Ministers meet developers as part of regular engagement with the renewables sector. For example, the Deputy First Minister met Flotation Energy in September 2024 to discuss supply chain opportunities, the First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy attended an Offshore Energies UK Roundtable in January 2024, at which the Flotation Energy CEO was present and the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy met with the Flotation CEO in March 2023 to discuss Flotation Energy’s plans for offshore wind developments in Scotland.

In 2022, the Scottish Health Survey reported that the proportion of all children aged 5-15 undertaking at least 60 minutes of activity on average per day in the previous week was 69% (including school-based activities). These levels have been relatively stable since 2019 and are broadly comparable with levels in England.

In partnership with COSLA, the Scottish Government published a new Physical Activity for Health Framework on October 2nd 2024. This document provides a framework for action to improve levels of physical activity at both national and local level which is firmly founded on evidence-based international guidance from the World Health Organization and other global partners as to the approach which is needed to deliver sustainable change.

There are a range of ways we are ensuring children and young people continue to be physically active, including the following:

• We are committed to ensuring that all children in primary schools receive at least two hours of physical education each school week, and all young people in secondaries 1 to 4 receive at least two 50-minute periods of physical education each school week.
• Our Active Schools programme takes place in all local authorities and is free for all children and young people. It provides a focus on inclusion, for example to support children living in poverty, those with additional support needs, and care-experienced young people to participate. The Active Schools programme is a long-term investment in health and wellbeing, supported by a network of over 400 Active Schools managers and coordinators working with schools to deliver quality sporting opportunities for children and young people. In 2023/24, there were 4.9 million visits by pupils over 262,000 sessions – a 6% increase from the previous year.
• sportscotland invests in and supports approximately 47 Scottish Governing Bodies of sport (SGBs) to develop their sport-specific pathways, including undertaking work to increase participation levels for children and young people in their sports.
• Our Active Play Development Project, which targets areas of disadvantage, provides children with the opportunity to develop physical skills in their early years and to encourage a long-term, positive relationship with physical activity.

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) recommendation that the four UK Nations should move towards implementing a programme of targeted lung screening for those between 55-74 with a history of smoking, was based on evidence from the lung health check pilots which continue to inform the Scottish Expert Advisory Group (SEAG) work.

The UK NSC established an expert Lung Task Group to oversee modelling work and explore the issues around implementation, which is attended by all four UK nations. In addition, representatives from the SEAG attend both the NHS England Lung Screening Implementation Group and the Welsh equivalent. Representatives from these groups have in turn attended the SEAG, to share learning and develop evidence-based feasibility advice.

Officials continue to invest in the University of Edinburgh who have been conducting a research study, LungScot, into targeted lung health checks across four health boards. This important work will help to inform the considerations of the SEAG as work progresses towards a business case which will highlight the challenges and opportunities for a Scottish Programme.

Lung cancer remains a national priority, with Scotland's first optimal cancer diagnostic pathway for lung published 12 December 2022. This pathway sets optimal timeframes for each step to enable diagnosis by day twenty one and treatment for most by day forty two. Work continues to develop and share best practice to ensure patients receive faster access to treatment.

sportscotland’s Institute of Sport delivers tailored support services for athletes. Their Female Athlete Performance Working Group have developed a range of resources specifically for female athletes, designed to support anyone working with girls and women in sport. The Group have also launched a learning platform which provides access to e-learning resources such as the menstrual cycle in sport.

These resources are available for free to all, with the ambition that all within the sporting system are comfortable having conversations about female athlete health and understand the impacts on training and performance.

Menstrual health and wellbeing education is a key part of relationships, sexual health and parenthood (RSHP) education. RSHP education is an integral part of the health and wellbeing area of the Scottish curriculum, Curriculum for Excellence.

The RSHP teaching resource, refreshed in 2023, equips young people with information on a wide range of issues, including menstrual health and wellbeing, depending on their age and stage of learning, enabling children and young people to build positive relationships as they grow older.

Through programmes such as sportscotland’s Fit For Girls and Young People’s Sport Panel, tutors are holding workshops with girls where menstrual education and impact on physical education is a key topic of discussion.

The Scottish Government spent approximately £4.2 million on the preparation to roll out Pension Age Winter Heating Payment between May 2023 and August 2024. This primarily relates to the development of systems to deliver the benefit but also covers costs associated with the public consultation, analysis of responses and relevant publications.

Given the short notice of the change in policy following the UK Government’s decision, DWP will deliver Pension Age Winter Heating Payment this winter ahead of Social Security Scotland delivering in 2025-26.

The systems to deliver Pension Age Winter Heating Payment have been designed and developed in line with the Digital Scotland Service Standards, reusing existing technology where possible, to ensure value for money. The service design and the digital systems developed for launch in Winter 2024-25 will be reused when Social Security Scotland delivers the payment next winter (2025-26), although some changes will be required to reflect the new eligibility rules.

We recognise the importance of having access to meaningful data in relation to respiratory services and we continue to aim to develop a national respiratory audit programme with Public Health Scotland to achieve this. We have not been able to progress this this financial year due to the challenging fiscal position we face, but we aim to do so in the financial year 2025 to 2026.

Spirometry is already a key recommendation in national clinical guidelines, and we expect clinicians to deliver care in line with all relevant clinical guidelines when assessing patients who present themselves at healthcare settings with respiratory symptoms.